Jeffrey S Harrison, CSCS, NSCA-CPThttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog
Train Smart. Eat Well. Be Better.Tue, 23 Jan 2018 02:28:56 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.3A New Years Plan to Followhttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/a-new-years-plan-to-follow/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/a-new-years-plan-to-follow/#respondMon, 22 Jan 2018 02:08:27 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2830I know. January is just about over and here I am writing to you about a plan you should follow in the new year. Why? Because your best intentioned “resolution” isn’t going to work. I know. So pessimistic of me. Couldn’t I be more positive? Fact of the matter is, you’ll always have my support but reality is reality. 80% of those who make resolutions fail by February; less than 8% actually see them all the way through. Every. Year. Not great odds. The real issue with resolutions is that they are thoughts, emotional ones at that. Thoughts with no plan, no direction, or no real goal. I am here to tell you that none of this has to be fantasy. It indeed can be a reality. It has to begin though not as a thought but a course of action; a plan/statement as to what you’re actually going to do, not hope or when it’s convenient.

Best Foot Forward

My domain is exercise, nutrition, and health so let’s first start with that. If you’re going to start exercising but haven’t exercised CONSISTENTLY in the last two months – STOP! Starting an exercise program in January is no different than starting one in October. If you didn’t have the intentions then, you won’t have them now. Think of just getting moving. May be it’s a walk at lunch time; a few calisthenics upon waking up; just spending more time not sitting. Eventually you may find yourself seeking more activity, or may be not. The point here is that it becomes something coming out of an action, not a thought. Want to lose weight? Stop with the following of diet plans, potions, programs that promise quick, easy solutions. They don’t care whether you succeed. In fact, they’re counting on you not so you’re susceptible to their marketing again next year. Begin with small, achievable changes like adding a glass of water to your day; eat out less, pack food more; stop giving up foods and embrace eating more. Understand that eating is a means to survival, not an evil activity to be shunned or treated like a plague. Improve your relationship with food/eating before you think of following any program. There are no metabolism resets, cleanses, or any ridiculous rituals to fixing something that no one has a handle on. Long term, sustainable weight loss is a daily activity, not a 6/8 week program.

Making Some Real Changes

Not all resolutions need to be exercise and/or nutrition based. Prove to yourself that first you can set something up, achieve it, and feel proud about seeing it all the way through. It has to start with a belief, not a thought or hope. Following are some ideas to do to get you started, pumped up about seeing the one thing that eludes you – accomplishment.

• Get more quality sleep
• Eat vegetables at every meal
• Meditate
• Spend more time outside
• Actually eat your fruit before it goes bad
• Get back in touch with old friends
• Don’t watch tv or use the computer during meals
• Stretch and improve your flexibility
• Drink herbal tea instead of coffee
• Concentrate on improving your posture
• Cook and prepare lunch instead of relying on processed foods
• Stop biting your nails
• Compliment someone every day
• Cut back on your sodium intake
• Regularly donate unworn and ill-fitting clothing to a local shelter
• Clean your pantry and throw out expired food each month
• Cut down on the amount of plastic you use each day
• Re-try foods that you hate, but haven’t eaten in years
• Delete a social media account
• Keep a journal

Til next time, train smart, eat well, and be better.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/a-new-years-plan-to-follow/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 12 – To Your Dieting Successhttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-12-to-your-dieting-success/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-12-to-your-dieting-success/#commentsThu, 21 Dec 2017 13:33:12 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2713(This is part 12 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

A majority of American adults say they’ve tried dieting to lose weight at some point in their lives, and at any given time, about one-third of the adult population say they’re currently dieting. Yet 60 percent of American adults are clinically overweight or obese and more than 16 percent of deaths nationwide are related to diet and physical activity. “There is clearly a disconnect if we have a majority of the population that has tried to lose weight and a majority of the population that is overweight,” says Marc Kiviniemi, a public health researcher at the University at Buffalo. “People are planning to diet and trying to diet, but that’s not translating into a successful weight loss effort.” Many issues, from biological to environmental, determine effective weight control, but how people manage their own behavior is a big piece of that puzzle.

Plan to Change

Dieting is a process that involves a plan to change eating behavior and behaving according to that plan. But the factors that guide diet planning differ from those that guide actual diet behavior, according to the results of a study with Carolyn Brown-Kramer of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “The crux of the disconnect is the divide between thoughts and feelings. Planning is important, but feelings matter, and focusing on feelings and understanding their role can be a great benefit,” says Kiviniemi, associate professor of community health and health behavior in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions. Plans to change behavior are a function of thoughts, the belief that weight loss is possible by making better food choices. But when it comes to making a food choice and deciding to execute the plan, feelings guide behavior. “If you’re sitting back conceiving a plan you may think rationally about the benefits of eating healthier foods, but when you’re in the moment, making a decision, engaging in a behavior, it’s the feelings associated with that behavior that may lead you to make different decisions from those you planned to make.” The findings highlight the shortcomings of deprivation diets or diets based on food choices that ignore people’s preferences. “First of all, the deprivation experience is miserable. If you didn’t associate negative feelings with it to start, you will after a few days,” says Kiviniemi. “The other thing that’s important is the distinction between things that require effort and things that are automatic. “Planning is an effort that demands mental energy, but feelings happen automatically. Deprivation or anything that demands a high degree of self-control is a cognitive process. If you put yourself in a position to use that energy every time you make a food choice that energy is only going to last so long.”

Plan for More Enjoyment

Kiviniemi says dieters should seriously consider enjoyment when framing and shaping a behavior change. “In the dietary domain, eating more fruits and vegetables is fabulous advice. But if you have negative feelings about those food choices, they might not represent elements of a good plan,” says Kiviniemi. “It’s not just about eating healthy foods. It’s about eating the healthy foods you like the most.” It’s not easy, and a lot of work is required to move intention to action, which is why Kiviniemi says planning should be broadly based on both thoughts and feelings. “Think seriously about how you’re going to implement the plans you make to change your behavior, and that includes not only the feeling component, but how you plan to overcome a negative reaction that might surface during a diet.” It’s not just the knowledge of what we’re eating, but consideration of how we’ll feel having decided to eat those foods, he says.

Happy Holidays to you and your families and blessings for a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-12-to-your-dieting-success/feed/112 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 11 – Organic Foods 101http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-11-organic-foods-101/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-11-organic-foods-101/#respondWed, 20 Dec 2017 22:58:10 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2704(This is part 11 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

20 years ago most organic food was produced by small farms and was only available at farmers’ markets and health food stores. Since the early 1990s organic food production has increased at the rate of about 20% per year, in both developing and developed nations – making it far more widely available – with giant supermarket chains like Giant and Walmart carrying organic products. Usually organic foods are more expensive; so with economy on everyone’s mind we needed a reminder of what organic foods are all about.

What Does Organic Mean?

Organic foods are produced without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and the land used to grow organic produce must go through a three year transitional period to ensure the soil is clear of conventional fertilizer and pesticide residue; in order to meet the USDA standards of organic certification. It must also be free from any waste contamination, either human or industrial and livestock must be free from growth hormones, not have been subjected to the use of antibiotics on a regular basis and must be fed a healthy diet. Organic products cannot contain genetically modified organisms in most countries. As far as food safety is concerned there is no difference between organic and conventionally produced foods – so always remember to wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water to remove dirt and bacteria and employ safe handling and storage for meat, poultry, dairy and fish. Some scientists even suggest that organic farming practices are not as sanitary as conventional farming practices.

Is It All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

In terms of actual nutrition there has not been any conclusive evidence to suggest that organic foods contain any more nutrients than conventionally produced foods. They do however contain significantly less pesticide residue. And don’t panic – if you are very concerned about pesticide residues for yourself or your children and you’re unable to buy organic foods, you can remove a significant amount of the pesticide residues in your food by simple peeling fruits and vegetables and removing the outer leaves (but do be aware you will be losing fiber and some nutrients), and trimming any fat from meat and poultry as the residues tend to be more concentrated in the fat and avoiding fish from contaminated areas.

But Is It Worth It?

Some people think organic food just tastes better and, if you can afford to, it makes sense to give your body the most delicious and best possible food available, but don’t stress yourself out over it. A varied, nutritionally balanced diet with proper food safety handling, whether organic or not, is the most important thing for overall health and well-being, and if you can buy organic you can be assured that you are helping to sustain the planet.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-11-organic-foods-101/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 10 – 10 Weight Room Mistakeshttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-10-10-weight-room-mistakes/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-10-10-weight-room-mistakes/#respondTue, 19 Dec 2017 22:54:46 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2689(This is part 10 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

The weight room doesn’t have to be your nemesis. A well-structured strength and conditioning plan can help anyone, male or female, build strength, power, endurance and durability that will pay massive dividends. But a handful of costly weight room mistakes can sabotage your efforts. Here’s a list of 10 common mistakes I see many people make while training.

Skipping a Warm-Up

One of the most costly mistakes often happens as soon as you walk into the gym. If you skip your warm-up, you miss out on an opportunity to improve mobility and flexibility, and you increase your chance of injury. A proper warm-up should:

Raise the body’s core temperature

Mobilize and stabilize joints such the hips, shoulders and ankles

Preview movement patterns you will use in your workout (e.g., Squats, Lunges, etc.)

Don’t be the guy or gal who does a few arm swings and toe touches and thinks you’re ready to go. Do yourself a favor and take 3 to 5 minutes to perform a thorough warm-up. That means foam rolling, mobility drills and a few light sets of your first strength exercise to get your body ready.

Performing Too Many Isolation Exercises

Life requires fluid, full-body movements. So why on earth would you spend time in the gym working one body part at a time? Instead, pick multi-joint strength movements like Squats, Deadlifts and Push-ups, along with powerful exercises like Jumps, Sprints and Throws. In fact, put them together to build unparalleled explosiveness with post-activation potentiation.

Never Deloading

Many “meat heads” pride themselves on pushing to the brink of exhaustion, but always teetering on that line can halt your progress. Every once in awhile, you need to take a step back to take two steps forward. Deloading is a planned training period during which you don’t work quite as hard, thus allowing your body and mind to recover so you can keep getting stronger. If you’re training hard at least four days per week, you should take a week-long deload every four to eight weeks to recharge your batteries.

Training to Failure Too Often

Your workouts should build you up, not break you down. There’s no faster way to leave yourself feeling broken down than training to failure too often. Luckily, you don’t have to train to failure at all to get bigger and stronger. As a general guideline, always leave one or two good reps in the tank at the end of each set. You’ll recover faster and still make progress. A surefire way to avoid training to failure is to pick the right number of sets and reps for each exercise. Big, heavy exercises like Squats and Deadlifts lend themselves to fewer reps and more sets, while lighter exercises like Push-Ups and Pull-Ups work best with more reps and fewer sets.

Wearing Improper Footwear

Did you know that what you wear on your feet can have a huge impact on how you move? Your workout footwear can greatly enhance—or reduce—the effectiveness of your exercises. For example, wearing running shoes to Squat or Deadlift is a common mistake. The soles of running shoes are cushioned to reduce impact while jogging. But when you’re lifting a heavy barbell, you want a solid heel so you can produce force into the ground. The squishy soles of a running shoe reduce stability and limit how well your legs produce force. Instead, opt for a flat-soled shoe or a heel-elevated shoe with a hard sole.

Sacrificing Form for Weight on the Bar

As fun as it is to throw around heavy weight, you need to remember that it nots how much you lift, but how you lift it. Lifting heavy weight is one of the fastest and most effective ways to become stronger, but never at the expense of proper form. If you get hurt in the gym, all your efforts were for nothing. Be sure to take the time to master the technique before loading exercises with heavy weight. Train under the guidance of a certified coach or trainer whenever possible, and use spotters when appropriate.

Doing Too Much Cardio

Cardiovascular endurance is certainly important but doing a whole bunch of cardio just to do cardio isn’t going to cut it. Always know and understand the “why’s” to your workouts, not the blind allegiance to a particular method.

Not Doing Enough Cardio

On the other hand, doing no cardio at all is a bad idea. Even though most of us need strength and power more than we need endurance, it’s a costly mistake to ignore aerobic conditioning entirely. That’s because all recovery is aerobic in nature. Your oxidative energy system is responsible for regenerating ATP, the body’s main energy source. Intense exercise requires lots of ATP, and if your oxidative system is poorly developed, you’ll take a long time to recover.

Neglecting Unilateral Exercises

Big lifts like the squat and bench press are fantastic strength movements, but make sure you follow them up with unilateral exercises like lunges and rows to reflect the one-sided nature of life.

Not Putting Your Phone Away

A lack of focus will derail anyone’s workout, and nothing does that faster than a smartphone. When you walk through the gym doors, your only priority for the next 60 to 90 minutes should be about getting better. Nothing on Facebook or Instagram will help you lift more weight or get more explosive. To avoid distractions, use a notebook instead of your phone to track your workouts. If you use your phone to listen to music, arrange a playlist ahead of time so you’re not fidgeting with your phone mid-workout to find a song you like.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2017-day-10-10-weight-room-mistakes/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 9 – The Food Pyramid: The Demise of the American Diethttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-9-the-food-pyramid-the-demise-of-the-american-diet/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-9-the-food-pyramid-the-demise-of-the-american-diet/#respondMon, 18 Dec 2017 21:21:27 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2710(This is part 9 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

We have all seen it hundreds of times. We are familiar with its confusing, rigid rules and strict serving size recommendations. It was plastered everywhere: on cereal boxes, billboards, television, textbooks and newspapers. Everywhere you looked, it lurked. USDA’s Food Pyramid. Have you ever looked at the food pyramid and wondered when and why it was created? How has it changed since the first dietary recommendations were publicized? How has the food industry changed the food pyramid? I never really gave it much thought, other than thinking that having a food pyramid, one recommended way of eating for everyone, is unreasonable, considering no two of the billions of people on this planet are alike.

A Confusing History

Early food recommendations encouraged the general public to eat more, whereas today’s food pyramids and recommendations exist to ensure we eat less. But if we are being told to eat less, then why are 65% of Americans obese and more than 75% are overweight? In the early 1900’s, when the first food intake recommendations were publicized, scientists were unaware of “bad” fats and people were dying because of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, tuberculosis, and influenza at the average age of 47. Scientists did not yet know how to make vitamins and minerals in pill form, so people were encouraged to eat an abundance of different foods: milk, vegetables, fruits, grains and meat, to ensure they were getting the nutrients they needed. 40% of people were farmers compared to today’s 2%, so this made everyone happy: doctors, the economy, and especially the farmers. Processed foods did not inundate market shelves. There wasn’t a need for a rigid food pyramid.

Is Eating Less Really Working?

Today and we are being told to eat less. Some form of the food pyramid has been in existence since 1992, and rigid recommendations began in 1979, but people are fatter, poorer, and sicker than they have ever been. The main causes of death are heart disease, cancer, and diseases of the liver. In a time when we have so much more knowledge about vitamins, minerals, fat, protein, carbohydrates, food and health in general, we are being told to restrict our food intake. We now have to be cautious of trans-fats, the endless choices of added sweeteners and preservatives, and the high quantities of sodium added to our foods. Nearly 30,000 genetically modified products line our market shelves. It is because of this that we are being told to eat less, and people are no longer happy, with the exception of the government and the big corporate food giants, like Philip Morris, Nestle and Kellogg. Today, the American diet is making doctors work harder and people sicker and poorer. I know it’s slightly confusing. Why would being told to eat less not affect the corporate food giants? Today, nutrients can be injected into every food we consume. Want a pizza enriched with whole grains (i.e. processed whole wheat)? You got it. Want a sugary juice enriched with extra vitamin-C? Coming right up! People are now more confused than ever, but still buying the whole-grain pizza, because, you know, grains are on the food pyramid. Now eating less doesn’t affect the food giants, it makes them powerful because they have the “good” pizza. So being told to eat less really means eating more of the pseudo “good-for-you food” the sneaky food giants are selling.

Is There a Solution?

Most recently, the food pyramid has been replaced with “My Plate,” which carries its own issues, such as fruits not being clearly defined. Should we drink fruit juice or eat whole fruits (whole fruits is the answer!)? I see grains on the plate, but what kind of grains? Whole grains? Processed grains? In the dairy section, there is an emphasis on low-fat and fat-free varieties, but recent research is revealing full fat dairy does not pose a heart-health risk and can actually be beneficial. So what is the solution? I think less rigid rules and more nutrition education is the answer in this confusing world of fake food and sugar-coma inducing beverages. But that is for another discussion.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-9-the-food-pyramid-the-demise-of-the-american-diet/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 8 – 7 Common Myths About Fat Losshttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-8-7-common-myths-about-fat-loss/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-8-7-common-myths-about-fat-loss/#respondSun, 17 Dec 2017 17:34:25 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2686(This is part 8 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

As it is with many subjects, fat loss is awash with mythology. What’s unfortunate is that most people blindly follow the latest and greatest “fad” or are clinging to outdated information that in the end really hurts their efforts to get leaner. Then there all of the ridiculous programs promising to “cleanse” the body and “reset” the metabolism as if there were some magic ctrl-alt-delete feature for the body. Furthermore, weight loss and fat loss are not synonymous with each other as there can be weight loss without fat loss and vice versa. Following are what I consider to be a few of the many myths about fat loss in the hopes of offering you some clarity.

Eating For Fat Loss Isn’t Always The Same As Eating For Good Health

Despite what various diet marketers will tell you, losing weight is pretty much all about calorie control. Sure, the proportion of fats, proteins, and carbs do play a role (more about that later in this article), but ultimately, if you consume less energy than you expend, you’ll lose weight, even if those calories come from “unhealthy” foods or food ingredients. Now there’s an interesting corollary to this: if you’re fat — let’s say even obese — you’ll improve your health by getting leaner, regardless of what you ate to lose the weight. I’m not necessarily suggesting you eat “bad” foods to lose weight; I’m just trying to achieve some clarity on this subject. And as much as many people will cringe when I say this, but you can and will lose weight eating cookies and chips and ice cream and any other forbidden foods you can imagine, as long as you eat too little of these foods. Again, I’m not advocating these foods; I’m just making a point.

The Dangers Of “Chemicals” And Food Processing Are Largely Overblown

Why you ask? Well for starters, everything you eat or drink is a chemical, and everything you eat or drink has been processed to some degree. With that being said, some chemicals are less healthy than others, and of course, some types of food processing are worse than others. As the old saying goes, “the devil is in the dose:” even pure spring water will kill you if you drink too much of it. And even arsenic is safe if you consume a small enough amount of it. This isn’t to say that you should be completely indiscriminate in your food consumption. Some types of processing, such as trans fats, have been shown to adversely affect human health. Other types of food additives and processing methods are still the subject of vigorous debate in scientific circles. With that said, is there really a downside to eating an extremely “natural,” totally organic, and/or “unprocessed” diet? Aside from the potential expense, probably not. It’s just that such an overly cautious approach probably isn’t necessary. So why make things more difficult than they need to be?

No Single Food Is “Fattening”

I mean that literally. Ice cream isn’t fattening. Big Macs aren’t fattening. Pizza isn’t fattening. What is fattening then? Eating too much food relative to your energy needs. Once again, pizza and ice cream certainly aren’t “helpful” foods if you’re attempting to lose weight, and they’re also not particularly great for your long-term health. But they certainly can be eaten as a part of a fat loss strategy, as long as your overall food intake is appropriate.

Low/No Carb Diets Can (And Often Do) Work, But Not For The Reason You Might Think

People love weight loss diets that give you hard and fast rules, and I understand why: it removes the uncertainty from the process. So I’m not against rules necessarily, nor am I necessarily “against” low carb diets, but it’s important to understand that they don’t work for the reasons that their proponents state. For example, the common rationale usually put forth about low carb diets is that when you eat carbs, your body produces insulin, which is a fat-storage hormone, so the result is, you get fat. There are a few problems about this scenario however: First, insulin does act as a fat storage hormone, but it also has very beneficial properties also — that’s why it exists in the first place after all. Secondly, carbs aren’t the only types of food that produce insulin — proteins for example, also stimulate insulin production. Third, your body can store fat without insulin. So even if you find a way to totally prevent insulin secretion, it doesn’t mean you can’t still gain weight. So how do low carb diets work? Any time you remove large categories of food from your diet (such as carbohydrate-containing foods, or animal-based foods, just to cite two common examples), you tend to eat less, and therefore, you lose weight. Simple right? Actually, it’s so simple most people never consider it.

Most People Have No Idea How Much They Eat

If losing weight isn’t about what types of foods you eat, but rather, how much you eat, then it’d certainly be important to know how much we’re eating, right? Unfortunately, research has shown over and over that most of us tend to significantly under-estimate how much we eat, and most people also tend to over-estimate how much physical activity they do over the course of a day. The solution? Self-monitoring. By the way, the most common characteristic among people who lose weight and keep it off for long term is self-monitoring.

It Doesn’t Really Matter How Many Times A Day You Eat

One of the oft-repeated myths about nutrition and fat loss is the idea that “you need to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism from slowing down.” Like most folklore, there is a kernel of truth in this idea: going long periods with no food does indeed decrease your metabolic rate, and eating anything does in fact speed up your metabolism. But when you look at the science, what we find is that, on a practical level, it doesn’t make much difference if you eat twice a day or 6 times a day. What does matter is how much you eat in 24 hours.

So if you’re one of those people who don’t get hungry until noon or so, don’t worry about eating breakfast. Or, if you find that your energy levels and overall mood is better when you eat more frequently, go with that. In other words, use whatever meal timing and frequency that will make your overall nutrition program more effective and easier to comply with. Just make sure that in the space of 24 hours, your caloric intake and nutritional needs are being met.

Fiber And Protein Make Any Diet More Successful

As a final suggestion, I’d like to leave you with a quick and easy tip that will make any nutritional program more effective, both in terms of weight loss and long term health: Most people would be better off with more fiber and more protein. There are a number of benefits to both, but for this discussion, I’m mostly talking about the satiety (feeling of fullness) that these two nutrients provide. The irony is however, that calorie per calorie, foods with a relatively high protein and/or fiber content are much more satisfying on a calorie per calorie basis. Feeling full is a GOOD thing because it makes you less likely to binge on less-productive types of foods.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-8-7-common-myths-about-fat-loss/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 7 – Minimalist Fitnesshttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-7-minimalist-fitness/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-7-minimalist-fitness/#respondSat, 16 Dec 2017 19:55:22 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2698(This is part 7 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

Two common barriers for people who want to exercise and get in shape are a lack of time and money needed for fitness. Who has the time to go to the gym, or buy expensive equipment, or take long bike rides? Well, if those are the things stopping you, you’re in luck. It takes no equipment to get a great workout and get in shape, and with one or two pieces of simple equipment, you can turn that great workout into a fantastic one. And with little or no equipment required for a fantastic workout, you can do it at home, or wherever you are.

The Pros and Cons of Bodyweight Exercises

Using just your bodyweight, you can do a large number of challenging exercises. If you add just one or two pieces of equipment: a dumbbell, a kettlebell, a jump rope, a medicine ball, or a chinup bar, for example, you can increase the challenge even more. This is not to say that lifting weights should be replaced, but there are tremendous benefits from bodyweight exercises as well. No gym fees or need to buy expensive equipment. You can do the workout anywhere, anytime. Most exercises involve many muscles working in coordination, resulting in great overall fitness and strength. For people who are just starting with strength training, bodyweight is often more than enough to begin with. And it gives you a good foundation of strength you can build on later. Bodyweight exercises aren’t the only thing you should ever do, however, for several reasons:

After awhile (a couple months perhaps), they aren’t all that challenging. You’ll need to continue to build your strength by adding weights. You can do that with some simple equipment .

If you don’t have at least one or two pieces of equipment — a chinup bar or a resistance band perhaps — some muscles don’t get worked out as much as others. That’s not a problem over the short term, but over the long term you’ll want to make sure you get a balance.

I suggest starting with bodyweight exercises, and then slowly transitioning to a combination of bodyweight and weight training to get a good balance. And even if you’re doing a complete weight training program, you can always use bodyweight exercises anytime you can’t make it to the gym.

A Sample Workout

Here’s a sample workout that you can begin with to either replace or augment your current routine. It’s just a collection of exercises that use compound muscles and joints to give a total-body workout with nothing but bodyweight.

Pushups. As many as you can. Do modified pushups if you can’t do full pushups, with your knees on the floor. If those are still too hard, do wall pushups, leaning against the wall or a chair.

Jump squats. Basically you squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then jump up as high as you can, and repeat.

Bicycle crunches. Lie on the floor with both knees bent and arms interlocked behind your head. Lift and extend both legs and then alternately bring the knees into the chest while turning the elbows towards the opposite knee.

Jumping lunges. Assume a lunge position with both knees bent to 90°. Jump up and switch position of both knees.

Burpees. From a standing position, jump both hands to the ground. Forcefully kick out both feet to a high plank position. Hop both legs forward and stand into a jump.

Diamond pushups. A push up with your hands closer together in a “diamond”

A Few Suggestions

Choose a variety of exercises that work out all the parts of your body. You should be doing some pulling exercises (like pullups), some lower-body exercises, like lunges and squats, and others that work out all of your body, like burpees. If you want a real challenge, mix cardio exercises with the strength exercises. If you have some of the equipment listed below, definitely use them. You can get a great workout without equipment, at least for awhile. If you’re just starting out, take it easy and gradually build up. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t overdo it! As you get stronger, gradually add weights. Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and medicine balls are some good ways to do that. It’ll take a couple months of bodyweight exercises, though, before you really need to move to weights.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-7-minimalist-fitness/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 6 – Understanding Food and Nutrition Labelshttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-6-understanding-food-and-nutrition-labels/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-6-understanding-food-and-nutrition-labels/#respondSat, 16 Dec 2017 03:15:56 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2728(This is part 6 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

About half of shoppers report reading nutrition labels “most of the time” or “always”. However, reading labels and understanding them are two different things. Even professional such as myself with extensive knowledge of nutrition can have trouble interpreting food labels. How much more confusing must it be for the average consumer? In addition, food-labeling regulations are complex and can contain excessive jargon. Still, with some basic guidance, I hope I can change that.

Translating the “Alphabet Soup” of Nutrient-Intake and Food-Labeling Standards

To make sense of food labels, you have to be able to distinguish among multiple individual nutrient-intake standards—which can apply to people of different ages, genders and life stages (i.e. pregnancy) and the nutrient intake standards used in food labeling. A two- or three-letter acronym represents each of these standards; here’s a look at the principles behind them:

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) were first published by the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. Institute of Medicine in 1943 and were revised every 5-10 years as new scientific information became available. Still updated periodically, RDAs are now a subcategory of the Dietary Reference Intakes.

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) were introduced in 1997 when the IOM (Institute of Medicine) broadened its scope by including not only RDAs but also new nutrient-intake standards that apply to several life-stage and gender groups.

Daily Values (DV) are defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; they’ve been required on food labels since 1994.

Daily Reference Values (DRV) can vary depending on caloric requirements. Information on the labels is intended to apply to people aged 4 years and older. DRVs typically apply to daily diets of 2,000 and 2,500 calories, although there are also DRVs for 3,200 calories.

Reference Daily Intakes (RDI)are similar to the U.S. RDAs found on food labels before 1994. RDIs apply mainly to essential vitamins and minerals, with four sets that apply to infants, toddlers, people aged 4 years and older, and pregnant or lactating women. One problem with DVs on food labels is that many foods, like breakfast cereals, are consumed by people with dramatically different individual nutrient requirements. Owing to space limitations, labels on most food packages will list DRVs for two calorie levels and one set of RDI numbers (typically the 4-and-older category). Thus, DVs provide only a general guideline for comparison, and they won’t necessarily match the specific nutrient needs of the consumer of that product.

Trans Fats, Sugars, % of DV You may have noticed that food labels have no DVs for trans fats or sugars. That’s because the IOM simply advises consumers to keep their trans fat intake as low as possible; it does not offer a specific recommendation. As for sugars, the IOM advises that no more than 25% of our overall energy intake should come from added sugars. Unfortunately, sugar values reported on the Nutrition Facts panel do not distinguish between added sugars and naturally occurring sugars. You also might have noticed that some products list a “% Daily Value” for protein, while others do not. If a product makes a claim like “high protein,” its protein content must be listed in grams and % DV). Otherwise, listing the protein content only in grams is acceptable.

Understanding Serving Size, Calories, and Calories From Fat

Serving size.The FDA has established serving sizes, or Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed, for 139 food product categories. For example, a typical RACC for a beverage is 8 fluid ounces. Be careful to note the serving size and number of servings per container on food labels. For example, the label on a 20-ounce bottle of soda may list 120 calories per 8-ounce serving, but if you drink the whole bottle, all the label values (and % DV) must be multiplied by 2.5. Failing to take the number of servings into account is one of the most common slip-ups consumers make when reading food labels.

Calories. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats have 4, 4 and 9 calories per gram, respectively, so the calorie value on a food label should be represented by this mathematical formula: (fat grams x 9) + (carbohydrate grams x 4) + (protein grams x 4). However, the calorie value on the label will not always exactly match this calculation. Dietary fiber is included in the carbohydrate gram count, and dietary fibers typically have 0-2 calories per gram. In addition, some rounding is allowed.

Calories from Fat.This percentage is calculated by dividing the calories from fat by the total calories in the food and then multiplying that result by 100.

Interpreting the Ingredient Listing

Ingredients in a food are listed in decreasing order by their weight in the product. Thus, ingredients at the top of the list are more plentiful than ingredients at the end

Allergen Claims

FDA rules come from the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. The FDA has identified eight major food allergens that account for more than 90% of all food allergies: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish (crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (for example, walnuts, almonds and pecans), peanuts, wheat and soy. The law requires that the label list the food source name of all major allergens used to make the food. Good manufacturing practices dictate that food companies appropriately clean food-manufacturing equipment between processing batches of allergen-containing and non-allergen-containing foods to avoid cross-contamination. However, some manufacturers may say on the label that the product is made on equipment that is also used to process a food containing a particular allergen. It is important to note that FDA guidance for the food industry states that food allergen advisory statements such as “may contain [allergen]” or “produced in a facility that also uses [allergen]” should not be used as a substitute for adhering to current good manufacturing practices and must be truthful and not misleading.

Understanding Definitions for Nutrient Content Claims

The FDA has definitions for a large number of terms related to nutrient content claims. For example, if a product claims to be a “good” source of vitamin A, it must have at least 10% of the DV; if it claims to be an “excellent” source of vitamin A or be “high in” vitamin A, it must have at least 20% DV.

Interpreting food labels can be confusing. I hope that this article will help you clear up some of your uncertainties about food labels. Being a skilled label reader can be of great help for making better nutritional choices.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-6-understanding-food-and-nutrition-labels/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 4 – How to Stay in Shape When You’re Busyhttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2016-day-4-how-to-stay-in-shape-when-youre-busy/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2016-day-4-how-to-stay-in-shape-when-youre-busy/#respondWed, 13 Dec 2017 22:49:10 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2695

(This is part 4 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

Having no time to exercise is an excuse I’ve heard a thousand times over the years. This time of year probably represents the time when that excuse is given the most. Whether you’re an avid exerciser or someone that just likes to use this time of year to justify why you don’t exercise regularly, there’s always an easy solution – no excuse!

It’s All in Your Control

It’s one of the most common patterns I see as a fitness coach: People trying to get (and stay) in shape work out diligently for months, then get derailed by the holidays. Many then “fall off the wagon” for the rest of the year or start the New Year with a hope that this is the year only to try to do too much too soon. It’s a seesaw that plays out physiologically too. Exercise regularly and you get a training effect — adaptations in the brain, circulatory system, respiratory system, metabolism, muscles, and bones that optimize health and function. Stop exercising and your body starts adapting to that — doing nothing — so you start to lose all these benefits you worked so hard for. The best choice is to not ever stop but keep going in whatever capacity that you can. That’s why I came up with this short little do anywhere, no need for equipment workout that will take all of 5 minutes to do. If you can’t take 5 minutes to invest a little physical capital now when the time constraints are at an all time high, your chances of success throughout the year are looking a little hazy.

5 Minutes, That’s All

Everything here is adaptable to your current fitness level and physical capabilities. You can shuffle exercises around or skip a few of them, come up with different ways to add resistance, etc. The most important thing is that you just do them if not to just keep moving. Each exercise is for 1 minute

Squats: Stand upright, both feet wider than hips width; flex the knees and hips and extend the arms out in front, keeping the head up. Substitute: Sit down and stand back up from a chair.

Marching in Place: Stand tall and march the legs, bringing the knees above the hips, and swinging the arma forward and back

Russian Twist: Arms out to the sides like a “T”, rotate the torso left to right.

Get Ups: From a standing position, squat down to place both hands on the floor. Extend one leg straight back followed immediately by the other until you are in a high plank position. Reverse the process by bringing both legs forward and then return to a standing position.

Reach Down and Up: Keeping both legs straight, reach down towards your toes and then reach them up and over your head.

]]>http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-2016-day-4-how-to-stay-in-shape-when-youre-busy/feed/012 Days of Fitness 2017: Day 3 – The New Rules to Strength Traininghttp://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-3-the-new-rules-to-strength-training/
http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/12-days-of-fitness-day-3-the-new-rules-to-strength-training/#respondTue, 12 Dec 2017 15:19:22 +0000http://jeffreysharrison.com/blog/?p=2701(This is part 3 of a 12 part series to provide you with some helpful health and fitness tips over the holiday season)

Today’s post is a guest post from a gentleman I consider to be one of the top training experts in the field today, Bret Contreras. Bret, or the “Glute Guy” as he is known, is the world’s leading expert in glute training and is an accomplished author and presenter. He has a very gifted way of delivering his message and keeping all of the scientific nomenclature out of it for the general population to understand and appreciate. Following is from an article he posted in T Nation titled “The New Rules to Strength Training”. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

If you know enough about anatomy, physiology, and strength training, you could make a case for why every exercise in the book should be avoided. Conversely, you could also make a case for why every exercise in the book should be performed. Without further ado, here are President Contreras’ actual new rules to strength training:

An exercise is judged by how it is supposed to be performed, not by how the jacktards screw it up.

If you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is dangerous.

There are no contraindicated exercises, just contraindicated individuals. Learn how your body works and master its mechanics.

If you can’t perform an exercise properly, don’t do it. If an exercise consistently causes pain, don’t do it. If an exercise consistently injures you, don’t do it.

Earn the right to perform an exercise. Correct any dysfunction and become qualified with bodyweight before loading up a movement pattern.

There exists a risk-reward continuum and some exercises are safer than others. It’s up to you to determine where you draw the line. Don’t bitch about your lack of progress or poor joint health as you lie in the bed you made for yourself.

Exercises performed poorly are dangerous, while exercises performed well are beneficial. If you use shitty form, you’ll hurt yourself. It’s only a matter of time.

If you display optimal levels of joint mobility, stability, and motor control, you’ll distribute forces much better and be able to tolerate more volume, intensity, and frequency.

Structural balance is critical. You must strengthen joints in opposing manners to ensure that posture isn’t altered. If your posture erodes due to strength training, it means that you’re a shitty program designer.

Body tissues adjust to become stronger to resist loading. The body is a living organism that adapts to imposed demands.

Your training will be based on your needs, your goals, and your liking. Different goals require different training methods. The loftier your goals, the more risk entailed.

There are two type of stress: eustress and distress. Keep yourself in eustress and you’ll be okay.

If you believe an exercise will hurt you, it probably will.

Injuries in the weight room have more to do with poor form and poor programming than the exercise itself. Exercises are tools. You are the carpenter. A good carpenter never blames his tools.

Rather than drift along with popular trends, it’s more fruitful to learn how the body works, which will allow you to understand the pros and cons of every exercise and make educated decisions in your programming.

At the end of the day, how you train is your call. Whether you play it safe or roll the dice, at least you’re not sitting on the couch. Pain and injuries have a way of teaching you proper form and programming, and having a large arsenal of exercises is important to prevent boredom and habituation and spark further adaptation. In short, keep learnin’ and keep liftin’! I’m President Contreras and I approve this message.